How to Save MikroTik Configuration

MikroTik routers don’t automatically save your settings. That means if the router reboots or loses power before saving, any unsaved changes will be lost. MikroTik routers don’t automatically save your settings. That means if the router reboots or loses power before saving, any unsaved changes will be lost.

Step 1: Save active settings

If you’ve made changes using CLI or Winbox, they stay in RAM until you save them to flash. This step writes those changes permanently:

/system save

Without this, all changes will be lost after the next reboot.

Step 2: Export to readable file

Exporting your configuration creates a .rsc file, which is a text version of your settings. It’s useful for reviewing or restoring config manually:

/export file=router-config

The file will be saved as router-config.rsc in the Files section of your router.

Step 3: Create binary backup

To back up everything, including passwords and user data, a binary backup is better. This saves the full system state:

/system backup save name=router-backup

The file will be saved as router-backup.backup and can only be restored on the same hardware model.

Step 4: Download backup files

To protect your backups from device failure, you should copy them to a safe location. You can do this via Winbox or secure copy (SCP):

scp [email protected]:router-backup.backup ./

Alternatively, open Winbox, go to Files, and drag the file to your desktop.

Step 5: Restore when needed

Restoring a .backup file brings back the full router state. You’ll need to reboot after loading it:

/system backup load name=router-backup.backup
/system reboot

To restore a .rsc file, use:

/import file-name=router-config.rsc

This re-applies the exported configuration line by line.